MacCready wrote:I hope they tweaked up Zohra's body double in the window crashing scene, cause that was brutual.I wish like hell this were playing on a big screen within 200 miles of me - wanna see. Now.

They actually refilmed the scene with Joanna Cassidy and it looks SWEEEEETTTT!

while i was reading Mori's review of this something clicked for me. he was talking about what the movie was about, character motivations and all, what the movie was saying, and it hit me. now, i am not saying that Dick or Scott had this implicitly in mind, but who knows....

it seems to me that the movie is not so much about the future or technology at all at its core. it is about man and his struggle with mortality, how he will do whatever he can to try to escape it, to stave off the inevitable, and his relationship to God (i am not making claims about the existence of God, so don't let that get you sidetracked) . Tyrell is God, of course. and how does man feel about God, deep down? when man finally gets a face to face with God does he thank God for the gift of life and consciousness?? no, he kills God out of anger that God gave him limits, that God made him mortal. i think it is a beautifully insightful work, in that regard.

But Roy Batty is a replicant, Pev, and I think it is very definitely a speculation on Earth's future and technology. The question of whether or not Humans have a soul seems more relevant to this film than theological metaphors about God, but it's an interesting idea - the idea of the 'Death of God' is pretty explicitly Nietschean, no? In that respect, hasn't humanity already 'killed God'? I guess I've just looked at the film from a more existential point of view. I can't recall a religious perspective in any of Ridley Scott's movies actually. Mori's review certainly is worth a read, though.

Absolutely - if you watch the film it's actually thoroughly humanist - it shows the cruel realities of any kind of religious fundamentalism and depicts positively progressive individuals like Saladin. Wouldn't you agree?

Peven wrote:i confess i have not seen it yet, though the director's cut is on my radar.

but what about my other post, where i pointed out the whole "God made man in his image" thing?

Going along with your metaphor, there is specific reference to that fact that the the replicants are 'More Human than Human' - it's the Tyrell corporation motto. In the future presented in this film, in the world Scott creates, God does not exist - he's dead. So for me, the more interesting question posed by the film is whether there is any real difference between the Humans and the replicants - it seems to me there isn't much. This is definitely the case in the latter versions of the film where Deckard is definitively portrayed as being a replicant, too.

Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven is much better than the version I saw at the movies.

Bladerunner finally came to my backwards hamlet.
I just returned.
I'm going back to see it again at the 11:00 show.

If this is playing in a theatre within range of your auto,
pack your ass into your Yugo and you go.

A lot of Zoners have never seen Bladerunner on the big screen the way God ( in this case played by Ridley Scott ) intended it.
And not like this.
To create a ruinous metaphor, Bladerunner was always a stunner, but she's back from Europe and she's had her boobs done, lost five pounds and now thinks oral sex is more fun than laughing.

The sound was most excellent ( lucky draw on where Bladerunner was showing for that ). So improved & clear that I swear I heard lines that I never had before, and one in a very important place I was right.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

( Where, after murdering Tyrell, Batty turns to the fleeing JF Sebastian and says "I'm sorry Sebastian". It startled me when I heard it in the theatre. Its fucking brilliant.)

I won't go into the flaws that were corrected, only to say they were corrected well. Those wee bits that gnawed at you.

Please see this on the big screen, where it deserves.
For your own edification.

Science Fiction & Horror films kept me going growing up. A lot of it was the kind of shit those born after 1980 would snicker at. Stone age effects.
Budget?
What's that shit?

Ed Wood.

But fuck it, they were trying.
And I was willing to cut them some slack.

Then the films started getting better.
Budgets?
We got one!
Great shit started making the rounds.
They found real actors.
We couldn't see the strings anymore,
the zippers in the monsters hide,
the man behind the curtain.

In time we got to Alien & Bladerunner.
Same director, by the way.
For some it happened with other films around the same era.
It was a very good time for we who had prevailed - who had waded through the groaners & diarrhea inducing amateur wank, and were now being rewarded with high quality films.

And I have always loved this film.
When the directors cut came out, it was like meeting her all over again.
Hawt.

The following was posted up in the DVD thread, but this is actually a theatrical release and not a review of the as yet unreleased DVD.

Bladerunner finally came to my backwards hamlet.
I just returned.
I'm going back to see it again at the 11:00 show.

If this is playing in a theatre within range of your auto,
pack your ass into your Yugo and you go.

A lot of Zoners have never seen Bladerunner on the big screen the way God ( in this case played by Ridley Scott ) intended it.
And not like this.
To create a ruinous metaphor, Bladerunner was always a stunner, but she's back from Europe and she's had her boobs done, lost five pounds and now thinks oral sex is more fun than laughing.

The sound was most excellent ( lucky draw on where Bladerunner was showing for that ). So improved & clear that I swear I heard lines that I never had before, and one in a very important place I was right.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

( Where, after murdering Tyrell, Batty turns to the fleeing JF Sebastian and says "I'm sorry Sebastian". It startled me when I heard it in the theatre. Its fucking brilliant.)

I won't go into the flaws that were corrected, only to say they were corrected well. Those wee bits that gnawed at you.

Please see this on the big screen, where it deserves.
For your own edification.

Science Fiction & Horror films kept me going growing up. A lot of it was the kind of shit those born after 1980 would snicker at. Stone age effects.
Budget?
What's that shit?

Ed Wood.

But fuck it, they were trying.
And I was willing to cut them some slack.

Then the films started getting better.
Budgets?
We got one!
Great shit started making the rounds.
They found real actors.
We couldn't see the strings anymore,
the zippers in the monsters hide,
the man behind the curtain.

In time we got to Alien & Bladerunner.
Same director, by the way.
For some it happened with other films around the same era.
It was a very good time for we who had prevailed - who had waded through the groaners & diarrhea inducing amateur wank, and were now being rewarded with high quality films.

And I have always loved this film.
When the directors cut came out, it was like meeting her all over again.
Hawt.

It's never coming here! Never! They won't let it get any closer than Denver and, dammit, my brain can't handle a road trip these days! But,, of course, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is at both of the competing local multiplexes.

*pitiful waiting*

I still hate Scott's abrupt ending. What can I say? The original was mush, but it was vaguely hopeful mush, and I thought the two of them deserved a chance. Archie Goodwin tweaked it just right in the comics adaptation through the simple means of a different VO by Deckard. I don't like Deckard being a replicant

When the hell does my every-fucking-version CE metal briefcase get here?

SIX WEEKS? I thought it was shipping in November!

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky

Good post Vicar....But are you serious that Ed Wood's was something that you found interesting back in the day? Even by the B-Grade status most of the 50's Sci-Fi was produced as Ed Wood's work was awful.

Chairman Kaga wrote:Good post Vicar....But are you serious that Ed Wood's was something that you found interesting back in the day? Even by the B-Grade status most of the 50's Sci-Fi was produced as Ed Wood's work was awful.

Interesting isn't the word I use for Wood.
He was so awful it was hysterical.
There was an earnestness, a desperation to his shit that made me weep.
Guy was really trying, he really, really was - but Christ.
And yet, this man not only could get films produced and in the can, he DID!
And Tim Burton covered his life.
Ed Wood is a fucking folk hero, like some impossible Robin Hood or Don Quixote.

Jesus, this movie's beautiful on the big screen, just gorgeous. For the first time in a while, CGI just didn't compare. The film's been so cleaned up that the modelwork in this is actually superior to any CGI effects I've seen this year. That opening shot with the fire derricks just blew my mind, and the subsequent LA shots were just amazing.

The movie still holds up, too. I'm not too keen on Ridley Scott's insistence that Deckard's a replicant, but it's still left up to you on how to interpret that, if barely. I hadn't seen BLADE RUNNER in any iteration for about 10 years, so much of it played like a new film to me, and there's several thematic and acting choices in it that I really never focused on before.

First, and I'm going to get painted DUMB for this, but this was the first time that the stylistic choices of a rundown LA in the future made sense to me. I always wondered why Los Angeles looked ripped open and in decay. But this is a world that people are leaving in droves. All that's left are the dregs who can't afford it, or Tyrell and his employees. In a way, slaves are all that remains, and it's ironic that it's illegal for replicants to come to Earth when the whole world's made up of slaves already. It's possible that the upper crust were afraid that replicants would somehow incite the lower classes to rebel. Roy Batty was certainly someone who people could rally behind. Which brings me to Rutger Hauer.

Man, that's one powerhouse performance. I know, I know... but on the big screen, where he's just in your face, you are emotionally connected to this Pinocchio-run-amok. "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe." He was more human than everyone else in the film, which was the point, I'm sure.

It didn't bother me as much, the possibility that Deckard was a replicant. Sure, there's plot holes abound with that - why isn't he strong, if he's a replicant? Why would they send a weak replicant to chase after the strong ones? - but I tend to think that Deckard was something of an experiment with the Tyrell people: how long can a replicant who thinks he's human live among society? Still, I prefer the ambiguity of it. It would be interesting to see an A.I.-like coda, where the replicants have evolved beyond their limitations and the human race is no longer even on Earth, leaving it to the artificials. But BLADE RUNNER works best in the parameters it was made, leaving us to imagine the possibilities of this world that Scott and company have created. Future noir, indeed.

If you get a chance to see it on the big screen, do so. It's a revelation. And in digital, the colors just pop off the screen, and it sounds amazing. Just a genuine work of art. I'm halfway thinking of canceling my DVD order and just going Blu-Ray even though I don't have a player yet.

The Vicar wrote:Its -Visually crisp.The sound was...So improved & clear that I swear I heard lines that I never had before, and one in a very important place I was right.

Visually SPECTACULAR.

great call on the vastly improved sound.

I was never much of a fan of the Decker is a skinjob interpretation they went with for the Director's Cut and now here in the final cut; it raises too many questions*, it kinda robs Roy's illumination of empathy, and takes the film even further from Dick's source material.

But godamn, it sure is pretty to look at.

Style as substance.

I'll echo Victor - go see this at the best theater you can if you get the chance. I don't care how big your tele is, or how great your soundsystem may be...

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is the best film of the year.

*like, ok, obviously this replicant Deckard has implanted memories, but of whom, or what? What was he doing before Gaff picked him up? If he was actually working for Captain Bryant before he retired...how long was he working for him? What's his model #? How long was he retired, and why would they let him? Does Deckard have a limited life span? Tyrell must know about Deckard, but why create him in the first place...to observe him, to study him? Why send him after replicants with just human strength? I assume that Bryant and Gaff have Deckard's full file, thus the answer to how Gaff knows of the unicorn daydreams/visions, but what'll happen if/when this replicant Deckard start to self actualize like his cousins the Nexus 6 models have?

Personally, I'm an atheist in the voting booth and a theist in the movie theatre. I separate the morality of religion with the spirituality and solace of it. There is something boring about atheism.

Nordling wrote:Jesus, this movie's beautiful on the big screen, just gorgeous. For the first time in a while, CGI just didn't compare. The film's been so cleaned up that the modelwork in this is actually superior to any CGI effects I've seen this year. That opening shot with the fire derricks just blew my mind, and the subsequent LA shots were just amazing.

The movie still holds up, too. I'm not too keen on Ridley Scott's insistence that Deckard's a replicant, but it's still left up to you on how to interpret that, if barely. I hadn't seen BLADE RUNNER in any iteration for about 10 years, so much of it played like a new film to me, and there's several thematic and acting choices in it that I really never focused on before.

First, and I'm going to get painted DUMB for this, but this was the first time that the stylistic choices of a rundown LA in the future made sense to me. I always wondered why Los Angeles looked ripped open and in decay. But this is a world that people are leaving in droves. All that's left are the dregs who can't afford it, or Tyrell and his employees. In a way, slaves are all that remains, and it's ironic that it's illegal for replicants to come to Earth when the whole world's made up of slaves already. It's possible that the upper crust were afraid that replicants would somehow incite the lower classes to rebel. Roy Batty was certainly someone who people could rally behind. Which brings me to Rutger Hauer.

Man, that's one powerhouse performance. I know, I know... but on the big screen, where he's just in your face, you are emotionally connected to this Pinocchio-run-amok. "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe." He was more human than everyone else in the film, which was the point, I'm sure.

It didn't bother me as much, the possibility that Deckard was a replicant. Sure, there's plot holes abound with that - why isn't he strong, if he's a replicant? Why would they send a weak replicant to chase after the strong ones? - but I tend to think that Deckard was something of an experiment with the Tyrell people: how long can a replicant who thinks he's human live among society? Still, I prefer the ambiguity of it. It would be interesting to see an A.I.-like coda, where the replicants have evolved beyond their limitations and the human race is no longer even on Earth, leaving it to the artificials. But BLADE RUNNER works best in the parameters it was made, leaving us to imagine the possibilities of this world that Scott and company have created. Future noir, indeed.

If you get a chance to see it on the big screen, do so. It's a revelation. And in digital, the colors just pop off the screen, and it sounds amazing. Just a genuine work of art. I'm halfway thinking of canceling my DVD order and just going Blu-Ray even though I don't have a player yet.

and I swear, I didn't read that before my eerily similar musings...

Personally, I'm an atheist in the voting booth and a theist in the movie theatre. I separate the morality of religion with the spirituality and solace of it. There is something boring about atheism.

Also, AMAZON.COM has an exclusive new 3-Cd soundtrack set with disc one being the 1994 CD release, the 2nd disc being the complete Vangelis score that did not make the cut, and disc 3 being all NEW music about Blade Runner from Vangelis....

I'm afraid I have to purchase this now too. My HD-DVD's of the 5 disc set are the sole reason I bought an HD-DVD player. I cannot wait. Dec 18th is too far away.

It's a shame it was only sent to an indie theatre, as I would have loved to have seen this on a massive screen and with better sound. Plus we were freezing which, I guess, adds to the ambiance of rainy LA, but is not very pleasant to sit in for two hours.

An impressive turn out too, I half expected our group to be the lone viewers, but there were easily 10 or more. Not bad for a Monday night of a showing no one knows exists. (Unfortunately, the two men next to us decided to suck face for the majority which provided a very disturbing soundtrack, particularly when the sound was poor anyway.)

I think one of the biggest "wow" scenes for me was the scene in Tyrell's office--always so grainy and red-saturated before, but now you can see all the gruesome detail. I loved being able to see Rachael's eyes, too, as I remember them being rather badly obscured in her first scene.

I also found it bizarrely funny to see, at last, that Darryl Hannah is wearing a hideous bodysuit. And here I thought the ComicCon boothies were just being modest.

I can't really add much more, except I concur with you guys about the Deckard Replicant ending. I hate any implication and I refuse to see it. I cry foul.

Otherwise...I'm dying to be Rachael for Halloween some year. I wish they sold contacts that gave you Replicant eyes.

Today was like a holiday starting with receiving my HD-DVD set and then proceeding to devour the movie itself and some extras.

The FINAL CUT is not nearly as radically different, but hot damn it looks great, sounds great, and the subtle changes did make a difference. The "DANGEROUS DAYS" doc is phenomenal. It really does blow away the UK documentary that isn't included.

I really really love it. I can't wait to get through some more on the 4th disc and 5th disc. There's only so many hours in a day. For fans of BLADE RUNNER, this is the multi-disc set we've waited for 25 years.